Peer Outreach Team We are a diverse group of 33 young people aged between 15 – 25 from different boroughs around London, who help the GLA engage with young Londoners to find out their opinions and how to help shape services. In addition we also advise but most importantly we act as a VOICE for young people.

How We Help We are responsible for informing young Londoners of their rights and responsibilities and supporting and delivering projects. We actively promote participation across London, working with voluntary & borough based organisations. We deliver; projects, workshops, presentations, Inspections, reports, evaluations and training.

Why is participation important Every Child Matters is a government initiative as a result of a young child’s death. Victoria Climbie. We aim to make every child matters come to life: Being healthy, enjoying & achieving, staying safe, making a positive contribution and economic well being. Every Child Matters is: Giving young Londoners a voice. Encouraging young people to be involved in shaping their communities. To help build long term relationships between young people and adults. The projects we are involved in aim to deliver all of the above mentioned and two of the projects we feel are relevant to this event today.

You’re Welcome Project This is a national initiative, that aims to improve the way that primary health services (sexual health clinics, GPs, mental health services and drugs services) deliver their services to young people. We were asked by the Government Office for London on behalf of the Department of Health, to train other young people from across London in how to assess primary health services, through mystery and known shopping. We did a pilot of the project in 7 London boroughs in 2008 and as a success of that we’ve been asked to carry on with the work. This time we will be training young people in all of the London boroughs. We will also be training frontline staff, as well as writing a communications and PR strategy. 1 of the aims of the project was to get young people to lead the project and research.

What we learnt from the your welcome project Some services are working really hard to become young people friendly, but don’t get recognised for this hence why the you’re welcome certificate is important. Some services are reluctant to change or are very poor and this needs to be challenged.. Peer lead research and training really works. Young people are as effective as adults, in assessing health services. What young people want is friendly approachable staff. Young people require more information regarding other services available to them. Young people need to be made aware of how to access these services and how to self refer. Young people need to know what they can expect from each individual service. One of the aims of the project was to get young people to lead the project and research. You’re welcome project needs to be mainstreamed through the primary care trust and youth services and needs continual assessment to maintain standards. Along with the department of health the peer outreach team are trying to make all of these needs met by the local authority and the primary care trust.

Alcohol Awareness Project The London Assembly asked us to lead on workshops with young people so that we could find out their views on alcohol and its affects on young people. We worked with a variety of young people from young offenders to young people who have or are being closely affected by alcohol. Some of the young people were reluctant to talk but we soon got them out of their shells and they all ended up taking part. The workshops were set up to help us get information on how young people wanted help to stay safe & get help if they need it. The focus group sessions were devised by us based on our experiences

What we learnt from the alcohol awareness project The main issues we picked up from the alcohol awareness project where that: Young people felt that issues regarding alcohol differed in inner and outer London boroughs. Not all young people abuse alcohol, some do drink responsibly and do not exceed the daily guideline allowance for alcohol intake. Easy access and cheap cost of alcohol does contribute to the high level of alcohol abuse amongst young people. Shopkeepers are willing to sell alcohol to underage drinkers without requesting proof of age (especially in the present state of the economy) and they were getting away with it. Not enough services in school (the only time support is given is when it’s too late and you’ve been excluded). Young people want to attend support groups, where they can receive both individual time with workers as well as meeting other young people, who have had similar experiences.

What we learnt from the alcohol awareness project Peer pressure is a significant factor in the growing use of alcohol amongst young people. There are young people who are just experimenting with alcohol and who therefore don’t wish to be labelled as an alcohol abuser. The media give a lot of coverage on celebrities (drunk and falling out of cars) this constant glamorisation of alcohol abuse by the media, is not sending out a positive message to young people. These mixed messages can essentially undo all the emphasis and campaigns advertised to drink responsibly. There are serious safety issues surrounding alcohol abuse, especially for young females who can prove to be vulnerable and more prone to attacks when intoxicated. Measure to be taken need to be discussed to reduce the risk of danger when over the limit. Long term health can be affected by alcohol It increases their risk taking I.E sexual activities and general safety.

Our Views We enjoy and appreciate being given the opportunity to deliver these projects. We hope the messages from the young people are used to inform policies and strategies surrounding these issues. What is clear that there are young people who need help, but there are also young people who just want to be healthy. Young people need to know what is available to them and how to access it without being judged or stereotyped. It’s important that young people should be more involved in the decision making which help shape the services that they use.